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NICOSIA, Cyprus — Cyprus clinched a last-minute solution to avert imminent financial meltdown early Monday after it agreed to slash its oversized banking sector and inflict hefty losses on wealthy depositors in troubled banks to secure a 10 billion euro (US$13 billion) bailout.
The deal, described by the country’s politicians as “painful”, was agreed with euro finance ministers in Brussels just in time. The European Central Bank had threatened to cut off crucial emergency assistance to the Cyprus’s embattled banks after Monday if no agreement was reached.

The once taboo subject of a Greek departure from the eurozone cracked in the past couple of weeks, primarily with threats to Greece.
Today the exit discussion dam broke wide open as Eurozone tells members to make contingencies for "Grexit"
Euro zone officials have told members of the currency area to prepare contingency plans in case Greece decides to quit the bloc, an eventuality which Germany's central bank said would be "manageable".

In the aftermath of Puerto Rico's historic bankruptcy, a clearer picture of losses accrued by U.S. mutual funds on their holdings of Puerto Rican debt is beginning to emerge: the WSJ has calculated the red ink at as much as $5.4 billion over the last five years on total holdings of $14.6 billion. Wall Street's paper of record lists the funds who have piled up losses, both realized and unrealized, on the trade.

Euro-area finance ministers agreed in principle to extend a 7 billion-euro (US$7.6 billion) bridge loan to Greece, according to an official familiar with the decision.
The loan is due to be announced on Friday once national parliaments have voted on the bailout deal that Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras signed up to on Monday, the official said, asking not to be named because the conversations were private. The loan will come from the European Financial Stabilisation Mechanism, the European Union’s rescue fund, the official said.

London (AFP) - European stock markets surged Monday on hope that Greece was closer to ending a five-month standoff with its EU-IMF creditors over a deal to save the country from default and a possible euro exit.

London (AFP) - European stocks ended the week on a high Friday with London's FTSE surging past the 7,000 mark for the first time in history, after Greece pledged new reform plans and the EU offered two billion euros in emergency aid.